DIY | Operation Home

Howdy, folks! I hope everybody is having a fantastic week so far. Last weekend, I got a little kick in the bootie out of nowhere to get some projects started. It’s funny how that happens. After refinishing my little mid-century table TWICE, you’d think I’d wanna take a break from refinishing. But, alas, this is what I found myself doing for a large part of Sunday… After clearing out the garage and locating the old table that I’m wanting to bring into my craft room, I began stripping that sucker of the layers upon layers of paint it was sporting. And it’s taking a while. So, while I’m getting ‘er done, I thought I’d refresh my creativity by focusing on a few smaller, fun, crafty-type projects to break up the monotony of scraping (and scraping).

This project is simple, easy and cheap. Ya know those glass cylinders that somehow end up accumulating outta nowhere?

Well, I’ve got a ton. Especially the smaller ones as we used them in the centerpieces at our wedding (*cough!sixyearsago*).

Well, I was on the hunt for a new centerpiece for our table and decided to jazz a few of them up for just this purpose. I wanted to do something simple and reversible. I decided to use the navy enamel paint that I’d used on the walls in Lucas’s room since I already had it on hand (It’s a Clark & Kensington oops paint that I got on clearance). After washing and drying the vases well, I simply dipped the top of the vases into the gallon of paint…

… And set them to dry. After a few hours, I went to go check on them and…..

Wellllllllllll….. While I’d wanted to achieve a somewhat imperfect look, this was a little out of hand with the drips. Yeah. Littlebit. And you can see the little smudges where Lucas had tried to “help” me. Poor guy. He had the best of intentions. Now, I really think this would be a terrific look for a Halloween centerpiece, especially if you used red or black paint. I, however, did not want a spooky vibe (yet), so I decided to start over.

This right here is a major perk of using latex enamel paint on glass….

It peels off in one piece. So, if you mess up, no big. Or if you wanted to, say, throw a dinner party with a particular color scheme, you could dip the vases in your color of choice and then be able to reuse the vases again later for a different event or display.

The second time around, I simply dipped the glasses the same way as before, but I held them upside down for much longer and kind of shook off the excess paint with a spiral motion. I also kept an eye on them as they dried and if I noticed too much of a drip happening, I’d simply turn them upside down for a few moments to redistribute the paint up higher. This was the perfect recipe for the neater, somewhat organic look I was going for…

At this point, I wanted to add a little bling. So, I busted out the gold craft paint and mixed a few different shades to create the color I was going for on a disposable plate…

Then, I dipped the rim of the vases in the gold paint….

Which left this….

I added some greenery clipped from the back yard, and…

And there you have it! A super simple centerpiece on the cheap! I love the simplicity of it, but that the little gold rims really add some fun interest. And now I just wanna play and jazz up all of our glass cylinders! #createdamonster

So, what’s your favorite way to jazz up a boring vase?

Linked up at: Tatertots & Jello

Leaps and bounds.

This is the current position of the closet in No Man’s Land.

Leaps and bounds better than before.

Before, you ask??

I know… It was so bad that you’ve blocked it from your memories out of self-preservation. Allow me to refresh…

Let’s take a moment of silence for our closet’s previous state.

Since this point (ofsadness), I’ve organized No Man’s Land and made total headway on this closet. It’s not done yet, but here’s where we are so far…

Eh??… Eh????… SO much better, right??! (Enter cumulative sigh of relief)

While taking on this project, I kept in mind that I wanted a space for all of my craft supplies as well as gift wrap products and other miscellaneous items.

My goals were:

1. Reuse what I already had
2. Spend zero dollars

So, basically, stay true to myself and remain the cheapo that I am. And I have to say that I was successful on both counts.

As you can see, I reused this shelving unit from our master bedroom for storage…

I decided to use it to store gift bags, large and small, as well as miscellaneous knobs, handles and other hardware that may come in handy someday…

Yet another painted basket that I gave a coat of aqua to, holds my art supplies, glue, spray adhesive and craft paint….

On top of the unit, I reused a Boholmen dish drainer from Ikea to hold things like iron-on letters, cork tiles, prints that haven’t found a home yet, and sponges. I used the silverware portion for paintbrushes…

I won this desk organizer at a Keno game at my mom’s house a while back…

I forgot to take a before pic… Imagine it sans paint smudge. This organizer wasn’t really my style and I didn’t have space for it on our desk anyways. So, I decided to use it a little non-traditionally. I painted it coral with some craft paint, then topcoated it with some Polycrylic to protect the finish. And then I turned it into a gift wrap station…

It fits the gift wrap perfectly, along with folded tissue paper, gift wrap scraps, scotch tape, and markers for labeling. I had an extra slot, which I plan to fill with labels and tags, but until I refill my stash, I thought it would be a good place for my hot glue sticks.

Remember that time a while back that I created a drop-zone behind Lucas’s door? And I nixed the hook plaque for aesthetic reasons? Well, I saved it all this time and combined it with some leftover hooks from our bathroom makeover…

I painted it with some blue all-purpose craft paint, added the hooks, and mounted the entire contraption to the wall……

…to create some low-profile hanging storage for scissors and such. Our hot glue gun got its own little “holster” using a galvanized bucket and some picture-hanging wire…

Our previous nightstand (which is actually a cd rack) was repurposed for fabric storage…

I simply turned it on its side and removed the adjustable shelves (they would’ve cut the long slots in half to make perfect squares). I have to admit… I felt pretty brilliant when I came up with that one. It’s the little things, ya’ll… 😉 As for the blue buckets… I purchased these about a year ago from Goodwill. To maximize hanging storage space, I removed the hanging bar and threaded it through the basket handles, easy-peasy…

I’m currently using them to store various odds and ends such as corks, ribbon scraps, paint chips and random crafty items.

Another form of ribbon storage that I utilized was this idea that I saw on Pinterest…

I just threaded the ribbon onto a pants hanger. Super simple.

Lastly, above my new fabric storage I placed my sewing machine and sewing kit.

My grandmother gave me this kit when I got married and I love it. The pattern and color is adorable. I actually used this as my inspiration piece when it came to choosing paint colors for the smaller painting projects in the space.

Needless to say, I’m absolutely thrilled with the closet so far. There are a few more tweaks I’d like to add in the future, but as of now, it’s like a breath of fresh air. I know where everything is, and it looks kind of cute to boot.